The Goddess Descends
by lionessXofXdreams
Summary: An anomaly of sorts falls from the sky and lands on the outskirts of Midgar. Sephiroth is sent to investigate. Who he finds is someone he's been longing to see, yet he hates at the same time. She brings up these "feelings" things that he thought he abandoned for a lifetime of battle. And then she starts messing with the system at Shinra. Now, he's left in charge over her. SephXOC
1. Reunion

**A/N This is my second published fanfic. This is the only chapter I've written so far, the second is on its way and I have absolutely _no_ idea where I'm going with this story. I guess I'll find out as you do.**

**Enjoy!**

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**1\. Reunion**

General Sephiroth, age 22, walked into Lazard's office to pick up his next assignment. Lazard barely looked up when Sephiroth approached and handed him the paperwork. Sephiroth read it as he walked out the door.

There was a strange phenomenon in the town just south of Midgar. What seemed like the beginnings of a tornado manifested, and in a flash of light, a person fell from the center and when it landed, the force was strong enough to create a crater. Then the storm disappeared.

The person was reported to be unharmed, and a woman.

Unharmed? After falling that far and that fast? Such a feat is only possible for someone like him, a 1st class SOLDIER which meant that he would be dealing with someone maybe almost as powerful as himself.

The problem was what he was supposed to do: take the woman into custody, especially with such a strange description. Whoever was investigating chose interesting details to put into the report: "A woman, tall, about 5'9, long brown hair, dark blue eyes, voluptuous and beautiful."

In all honesty, the last part was a bit much, especially with the specific details about vague traits.

Putting that aside, Sephiroth, after gearing up, headed out in search of a woman.

* * *

When he reached the outskirts, he put on his cloak. He didn't want civilians interrupting his search. The streets were crowded with people of all shapes and sizes. Finding a single woman would be difficult, but he kept his eyes open and his mind alert.

The search didn't take as long as he thought it would.

Using a hooded cloak to hide her figure, it was the girl as described. He could tell by the height, the color of her voluptuous hair, the kind smile she gave to the clerk that handed her a bag of goods that she bought, and as she turned toward him, she sensed him staring, and looked at him with familiar, beautiful indigo eyes.

It was _her_. The girl he had met all those years ago. The girl so beautiful that he thought she was an angel, and looking at her now all these years later and all grown up, he still believed she was an angel, though she told him otherwise.

She recognized him as well and approached him with a smile so dazzling it nearly made his heart stop. She stopped only a foot from him. Her smile never faded as he continued to stare at her, disbelieving, but kept his outward appearance aloof. He was a trained SOLDIER, not some boy staring after a long lost crush.

"Hello, Sephiroth," she said quietly to preserve their privacy.

"You're the girl from the lab," he said just as quietly.

"I am. I sense you're looking for someone. Have you found him yet?" she asked, stepping a little closer.

"Her. And yes, I have," he started, "I need you to come with me," he said coldly and turned to leave.

"I refuse," she said, and remained where she was.

Sephiroth turned to glare at her, keeping his cold and brusque demeanor. "Why?"

"Because I have no reason to go with you," she answered, staring directly into his eyes.

"We are no longer children. I am a General. I have the authority. You _will_ follow me,"

"I refuse," she said, smirking at him. When he scowled, she held up a hand. "No, we are not children. You may be a General here, but I am not from this world. And I am _queen_ in mine. You have no authority over _me_. I choose not to follow you. Not at least we've caught up a bit," she said, an amused glint lit her eyes.

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes at her. "You are a queen?" He asked, skeptically.

"Not of this world, but yes. Do you remember nothing I told you in those labs?"

"I remember everything," he said.

"Then you should remember that I was a princess last we spoke. It was only natural there was a chance that I would be queen," she said, as if this should have been obvious. But he could tell she was stalling.

"Enough. I need you to come with me," He said.

"No," she said, "Let's make a deal. We go to the outskirts of this town and we battle. If I win, I get to choose whether or not I go with you, if you win, I go with you no matter what. Fair?" she said, holding out her left hand

Sephiroth glanced between her hand and her eyes. By the way of her . . . re-entry to this world, Sephiroth could tell she was powerful: at least as powerful as Genesis or Angeal. Fighting her would be difficult, but nothing he couldn't handle.

He took her hand and accepted the offer. Something strange happened when his hand touched hers: His heart pounded, and a pressure compressed his lungs. It was power. Absolute power that she was currently suppressing. Another thing happened that he couldn't describe. A tingling sensation, like electricity passed from her hand and into his, spreading all-throughout his body. He nearly shivered. _She_ did.

He let go of her hand, and they walked together to the outskirts.

* * *

On the way there, he called for reinforcements by pressing the button on his cellphone so that she wouldn't tell what he was doing. While walking, she tried starting a conversation with him, but he wasn't willing to talk with her.

He was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that she was there. She had been gone so long, and she had grown up so beautifully. Though the differences were profound, such as the curves were significantly more pronounced, her hair slightly darker and more voluptuous, her eyes a brighter indigo, her gait was womanly and confident, she held her shoulders back and her head high, she was just like she was when they were younger. Seeing her stirred up emotions that he thought he had long abandoned to gain a cold demeanor for battle.

And to this day, he was still convinced she was an angel. She was just too beautiful. Even if she continued to tell him that she was a descendant of demon-spawn. Even as he looked at her now, with his adult mind that had been enhanced by mako treatments and war, and after he had stopped believing in things as childish as angels, he couldn't bring himself to stop thinking of her as a cellestial being.

They stopped many paces apart and faced each other. Sephiroth readied his masamune, and he watched as she pulled the cloak away from her too perfect body to reveal she wore strange armor that only covered her chest, her breasts, ribs, and the majority of her arms, leaving her shoulders and neck bare, as well as armor on her pants that hugged her hips and revealed much of her midriff. He noticed a small double studded piercing on her belly button.

Internally shaking himself from the distraction, he saw that she wore a rapier on a belt loosely draped across her hips.

She drew her blade and steadied her stance.

And the fight began.

He lunged at her, and she disappeared, reappearing behind him, ready to strike.

The reality of the situation hit him as hard as her blade hit his, sending him flying away from her. She was stronger than he was. By far. And it terrified him. He refused to relent, just as she refused to ease her pace.

Her speed was too fast for him to follow and his eyes couldn't keep track of her. He barely had enough time to parry her blows and regain balance before she was striking again, even after sending him flying all the way across the clearing.

Sephiroth was thoroughly frustrated. Yet he refused to give in to his temper. He needed to remain calm if he was going to gain the upper hand. So he tried strengthening his stance. It worked for a while before her strikes became faster and Sephiroth was faced with a crushing reality: she was too strong. Even for the great General Sephiroth.

And he was reminded that she was indeed not human. No. He could tell she was holding back. Even with this amount of strength she used against him, she was holding back.

Sephiroth's knee buckled and he was struck down. His knees touched the ground and his masamune struck from his hands, landing in hers that she flipped to hold behind her back, blade pointing to the sky, the tip of her rapier at his throat.

He had lost.

"Do you yield?" she asked, not even out of breath.

"I yield," Sephiroth said, struggling to breathe normally, so it seemed she hadn't destroyed _all _his pride and dignity.

"Good, we have company," she said, and turned toward the direction of the forest and handed Sephiroth his sword. Sephiroth stood and turned toward the direction that she faced, and saw, much to his chagrin, Genesis and Angel, gawking.

A few moments passed.

"I'm going to go get my cloak," she said, and turned around, sheathing her sword and walked to where she left her cloak.

Genesis and Angeal decided to approach him then.

"Sephiroth, who is that?" Angeal asked, looking to get to the bottom of things immediately. Which forced Genesis to stay on topic so that he wouldn't gloat that the "Great General Sephiroth lost to a girl."

"She's. . . The one who I was sent to find. She fell from the sky, landed unconscious, but somehow unscathed."

"Unscathed?" Angeal asked, looking at Sephiroth through narrowed eyes. "Why were you fighting her?"

"Because she refused to follow me to Shinra Headquarters. She suggested that we fight to settle the matter,"

"And what? Now she won't come with us?" Genesis asked, already sounding like he was enjoying the moment far too much.

"No. She said that she would make her decision if she won. I don't know if she will come willingly or not,"

"Who is she?" Genesis asked, staring over Sephiroth's shoulder. Both he and Angeal turned to look at the girl who was now approaching.

"I met her a long time ago, in the labs," Sephiroth said quietly.

"The labs?" Angeal asked incredulously.

"She escaped a few days after I met her. Destroyed all of Hojo's records that he had documented about her in the process. She was never seen again,"

"No," Genesis said, shaking his head and staring at the girl who was approaching them. "I don't believe it,"

"Well, you better believe it," she said when she stopped next to Sephiroth. "If I can defeat Sephiroth so absolutely as an adult, you can't imagine what I was capable of as a child," she said, smirking at Genesis. He narrowed his eyes at her and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"She has a point," Angeal said before he introduced himself to her, and she to him. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm not surprised Sephiroth kept you a secret, as lovely as you are, it's no wonder he wished to keep your memory to himself," Angeal said cordially.

She laughed at his flattery. "Thank you for your compliment, Angeal. But I doubt those were Sephiroth's intentions,"

Genesis snorted. "Oh, he had no intentions. He just doesn't want to talk to us about his childhood. Frankly, none of us want to hear it," he said and Sephiroth glared at him so furiously, Genesis felt the need to step back.

"That's fine. Each of us has secrets we wish to keep hidden,"

"Wisely said," Angeal said.

"Anyway, I am Genesis," Genesis began, taking her hand and kissing her fingers, "'The goddess descends from the sky / Wings of light and dark spread afar.'"

She looked at Angeal in confusion. He rolled his eyes and shook his head in answer, and she took the hint to ignore it.

Sephiroth, by this time, was done with the pleasantries. "Have you made your decision?"

"Yes," she said, "I will go with you," she said seriously.

Sephiroth nodded and the three men began walking toward the forest. But she grabbed Sephiroth's arm and held him back. The other two noticed and looked back.

"Give us a moment, if you will," she said. They glanced at one another before nodding their consent and continued to the forest.

"What?" the General asked harshly.

"You haven't said my name," she said quietly.

He sighed. "You stopped me to say your name?"

"Sephiroth, not once did you say my name in the time that we've been reunited. And isn't it customary to introduce your acquaintances? You let me introduce myself. . . You've been avoiding saying my name," she accused, her eyes imploring him with their almost sad expression.

Sephiroth _had _been avoiding saying her name. Saying her name meant acknowledging that she was back. He was still irrationally angry with her for abandoning him in those labs and leaving him with _Hojo_ of all people. The sick bastard. She knew how to get away from him, and didn't take Sephiroth away with her when she left.

Saying her name meant that because she was back, she could leave him again.

"Please?" she begged and that look in her eyes was the most heart-wrenching expression.

He sighed, closing his eyes as the name, "Katarjena," rolled off of his tongue so naturally. And so many emotions flowed through him: relief, excitement, nervousness, elation.

She smiled at him with a strange look in her eyes. It looked like relief, happiness, and . . . something else he couldn't name.

"Again," she said.

He sighed again and pinched the bridge of his nose. She laughed at his display.

"Katarjena,"

"Once more," she whispered.

This time, just to throw her off, he leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Katarjena." He felt her shudder as he pulled away and walked toward his fellow SOLDIERs.


	2. SOLDIER

****So. . . It took me an inexcusable amount of time to get this written and published, and for that I am _so incredibly sorry_. Again, I have only a general and basic idea of where this story will go, so I'm on the ride with you guys. ****

****Thank you so much to those that reviewed, favorited, and followed this story. I appreciate it so much.****

****Disclaimer: I have the sole rights to my OC's and ****only**** my OC's. FFVII and everything therein is not mine. Duh.****

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2\. SOLDIER

_Sephiroth, age 12, was somewhat surprised when he learned Hojo had collected someone new on whom he could experiment. He didn't know how to feel about it. But that was the least of his concerns. Today was another physical exam. _

_So it was natural that he first saw the girl in the lab. But something was wrong. Why did Hojo have an angel in the labs? How did he even come across her? Because a girl that beautiful couldn't be anything but an angel. Sephiroth was sure of it. _

_After his examination, Sephiroth was left with the angel. _

_He approached her carefully. She really was beautiful. She was about his age. Her skin was naturally tanned and her hair was a deep, rich brown. He wondered what color her eyes were._

_But she was so still. The only sign of life was the steady rise and fall of her chest._

_And then her eyes opened, startling Sephiroth frozen._

_They were a deep, dark, dark blue._

_She looked confused, probably wondering where she was. Sephiroth didn't move, afraid to startle her. Her full lips parted slightly and she turned her head to look directly at him._

_For some reason, his heart started pounding._

"_Where am I? she asked. Her voice was a soft and sweet soprano. _

"_In a lab at the Midgar Shinra Headquarters,"_

"_Oh," she said, her brow furrowed, "I must be in another world then," she said quietly. She sat up and Sephiroth saw that her hair was long and thick, curling softly and her bangs were like his, but hers curled toward her cheekbones, accentuating her eyes._

_There was a moment of silence._

"_Are you an angel?" Sephiroth asked her._

_He jolted—_

Sephiroth blinked. He was in a helicopter and they had just hit turbulence. He frowned and studied the sky outside the window. It was dark and stormy. But it was nothing the pilot couldn't handle. Plus, if anything _did_ go wrong, all the passengers were strong enough to not get hurt falling. Their newest guest had proved that a few hours ago.

He watched as she sat demurely across from him, gazing out the window. He hated how his chest constricted just by looking at her. Irritated, he looked back out the window, over the cityscape. He could feel his comrades glancing at him every three minutes. Like clockwork, Genesis would glance at him, and then three minutes later, Angeal would take his turn.

To say it was irritating would be an understatement. And while his fellow SOLDIERs were keeping an eye on him, the woman across from him, the one who'd left him behind, wouldn't even look at him. She wasn't avoiding looking at him, she was just uninterested. She was too intrigued by the landscape.

And finally, when she _did_ look at him, she seemed to notice something, and smiled a sweet knowing smile that both crushed his chest, but made his body and soul float before turning back to the window.

_Irritating_.

He fought not to sigh. It wasn't that he was irritated with her, per say. He was more frustrated with his reaction to her. It was something he couldn't help no matter how much he tried. His thoughts were swirling with feelings of elation and abandonment.

Angeal nudged him with his elbow and Sephiroth turned to give him a curious look. Angeal raised a brow and Sephiroth realized that he was glaring. He frowned and looked away, trying to relax his features to appear indifferent. Going by the slightly smug and amused look on her face, it either didn't work, or she saw right through him. It was likely the latter.

The helicopter ride remained quiet. The pilot let them know that they would have to be dropped off on the pad because he was just assigned to take care of something else. He failed to specify what he was assigned to do.

When the helicopter approached the pad, the door flew open, and Genesis motioned for Katarjena to go first with what he thought was a charming smile, and it probably was, and Katarjena smirked playfully back, bowed and dropped gracefully out of the copter as if she were made of silk. Sephiroth glared at his companion hotly, and Genesis's face fell at first but then, frustratingly, he smirked and jumped out before Sephiroth could dish any bodily harm. Angeal chuckled behind him.

"Leave it alone, Sephiroth," Angeal warned lightly. Sephiroth sighed and begrudgingly nodded. Angeal was right. He was still aggravated, but he needed to let it go in order to carry on professionally.

He stepped out of the copter and landed lightly on his feet. Genesis was waiting for them by the door, and imperceptible look on his face. Sephiroth narrowed his eyes at the change in behavior, but otherwise ignored it.

Katarjena walked ahead of them, confidently, as if she knew exactly where she was supposed to go. She probably did. She'd been in that very building before. Gaia only knew how much she had seen of that place the last time she had been there. And soon, she was so far ahead that they lost sight of her.

When she reached the directors office, Katarjena, without even bothering to knock, opened the door and strode inside.

* * *

Lazard looked up from his desk and paperwork to see a beautiful young woman in strange armor waltz into his office and approach with a confident, alluring walk. Her dark eyes were alight with an inner fire that Lazard doubted anyone could tame. Not even General Sephiroth.

"You are the director, I presume?" Her voice was proud and clear. It was then he noticed a sort of crown that was silver in color clinging to her head, an intricate design framing her forehead and temples, holding crystals that had an ethereal glow about them.

No wonder she was so confident: she was royalty.

He stood to address her formally. "Yes. I am Director Lazard. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance—" The extending of his hand was interrupted by the three 1st class SOLDIERs that were trotting in, eyes wild and in search of something. Well, Genesis and Angeal seemed concerned. Sephiroth sauntered in after them seemingly blasé, but there was an air of irritation about him that suggested he cared more than he let on. Plus, the moment he entered the room, his eyes found hers immediately.

Sephiroth had no idea he did this, but everyone else did.

"Katarjena, you can't just barge in—"

"That is irrelevant. I need a meeting with Shinra's leaders and bosses. Get a meeting together now. Tell them it's urgent," she commanded, and her tone left no room for argument. Lazard, the director of Shinra, and three top class SOLDIERs, could do nothing but her will.

Lazard hesitated for a moment. He caught Sephiroth's eye and noticed he was glaring.

Not at Lazard, but, perhaps, at the wall behind him. And Lazard realized that this was the "anomaly" that he was sent out to find. The one who fell out of the sky and landed unscathed. He figured she gave Sephiroth hell when he demanded that she go with him to Shinra. Lazard assumed that "Katarjena," as Genesis had called her, had won whatever confrontation based on Sephiroth's petulant attitude. Why she decided to come anyway was beyond him.

Lazard nodded his head once and picked up his phone to contact President Shinra.

* * *

Katarjena sat in an office chair positioned near the end of an oblong dark brown, wooden table that could seat at least fifteen people. On the opposite side was a window looking out over the city, though it was blocked by leaking clouds at the moment. She leaned back in her chair and crossed her leg over the other, resting her arms on the rests and watched as the highest ranking members of Shinra filtered through the door. She assumed that the President would be last, as the chair directly at the end on her side was left open. Between her and that chair was Lazard. Sitting next to her on her other side was the other side was a young man with glasses and blonde hair. The son, she figured, of the president. Next to him was Sephiroth, and then Angeal.

The chairs were mostly full, and then, to her great amusement, Hojo stalked through the doors. His eyes scanned the contents of the room, and then landed on her to find her smirking near sadistically.

"Hojo!" She exclaimed in dark amusement, and the infamous doctor froze in rage.

"You," he muttered darkly, glaring at her furiously.

"Hello, again, Doctor. It's been an age. How was trying to find your lost research and data? Must've taken you _forever_." Katarjena leaned forward to rest her head on her hand and elbow on the desk.

Hojo was nearly shaking in anger and the rest of the room watched warily, but with interest; heads turned back and forth with the discourse.

"All that data is _gone_ because of you. Forever!" He shouted.

Katarjena pouted. "It needed to be done. Whatever research you were going to get from my blood needed to be destroyed. There was no way around it." She shrugged and leaned forward all the way, completely at ease.

At this, Hojo smirked a sinister sneer that had all three SOLDIERs shuddering in disgust. "You didn't destroy _everything_."

Katarjena's easy smile fell. "You had a vial of my blood, didn't you?"

Hojo laughed vigorously and maniacally, and seemed about to gloat, but he stopped when he saw that she was grinning with mild interest and amusement. "So, _doctor_, what did you find? Anything . . . useful?"

Hojo remained silent. Katarjena knew that he would've found significant differences between her blood and that of anything else that he had seen before. But, without his original test subject, he had no way to measure how different her blood was. So, he probably did the only thing he could do to measure difference: injected it into himself, and maybe some other test subjects. He could only do maybe a few drops of blood because there was no way to replicate the material in her blood (having tested and finding he had no materials that could produce the same substance).

With the realization that Hojo had injected her blood into himself, she smirked. "You injected my blood into your bloodstream, didn't you?"

Hojo sneered, probably thinking that that had some significance, no matter how unmeasurable the changes. "I did," he said smugly.

Katarjena chuckled derisively. "Unfortunately for the both of us, that means that I _own _you. You have staked my claim on you yourself. Fortunately for you, I don't have that strong a hold over you," Hojo pressed his lips together in a thin line, realizing the severity of what he had done. "Fortunately for me, you are now incapable of trying to harm me in any way, be it physical, mental, or emotional."

Katarjena watched his face carefully. It was turning into a lovely shade of purple as he held in his rage. Afterall, there was nothing he could do. He had acted foolishly, and these were the consequences for his mistake. Katarjena sat back in her seat, finding the same position as she had before.

It was at that moment that President Shinra walked in and moved to his seat at the head of the meeting table. He paused when he saw Hojo standing in the opposite doorway with a furious expression on his face.

Katarjena watched as Hojo faced the president, bowed slightly, and moved stiffly to his seat. It brought Katarjena a sick joy to see such a twisted man on such a short leash.

The president's eyes then found the strange and unfamiliar woman sitting at a Head Office meeting. She watched him curiously as he her. The president looked to Lazard.

"What is this?" he asked sternly as he sat in his chair.

Lazard stood. "In the town just south of Midgar, an anomaly appeared in the sky: a strange storm formed and a woman fell from it and landed unconscious yet unscathed. I had Sephiroth go to investigate and this is who he found."

Katarjena looked to the president, a subtle, amused grin on her face. His piercing and fierce eyes scrutinized her scantily, armor clad body once before looking back to her face.

"How do you know Hojo?" Shinra asked, his eyes narrowing at her in a curious fashion.

"Do you remember reports of a young girl found about—how long ago was it?" Her eyes turned to Sephiroth. Said SOLDIER stiffened and glared at her, but he turned to Shinra and said:

"Ten years ago. She was found and brought to Hojo's lab. A few days later she escaped, deleting any and all data Hojo had collected about her, as well as most of the rest of his data." Sephiroth's tone was stoic and formal.

Shinra frowned deeply at this news. He turned his glare to Hojo. "Why was I uninformed about the circumstances behind the loss of your data?" he asked harshly.

Hojo became rigid in his seat as he glared at the table. "It was the Research Division's problem. It was nothing the President need know."

"Do you not think that I should be the one to decide whether or not it is necessary for me to know about what happens in my company?" The president's tone was cold and steely, biting almost, and Hojo flinched.

"Yes, sir." Even Katarjena could hear the reluctance and indignation in Hojo's voice. Regardless, the President ignored him and pressed the meeting forward. He turned to Katarjena.

"Who are you?" he asked frankly.

Katarjena, in turn answered seriously. "I am Katarjena, Queen of Andaluxia." She could see the president perk slightly at the news of her being royalty.

"And your king?"

Katarjena smirked. "I've yet to find him." She glanced at Sephiroth who was now glaring at her fiercely.

"How do you mean? You've lost him?"

Katarjena laughed aloud. "I can't lose something I've never had."

"Then how are you queen without having a king?"

Katarjena sat up in her chair. "My kingdom runs on different values than yours. The former king and queen chose one of their offspring to rule their kingdom based upon which personality and wisdom would best suit it. My parents chose me. I was coronated a little more than twenty years ago."

Shinra frowned deeply and settled back into his chair. "You do not look old enough to be coronated twenty years ago," he commented.

"That is because my kind ages differently. I am one-hundred and ninety-four years old. Which brings me to about nineteen years of age physically."

Shinra analyzed her through narrowed eyes, then nodded and steepled his fingers.

"What is it you want here?"

Katarjena shrugged. "I did not ask to be here. I was pulled through by this dimension for a reason unknown to me that I must discover. The reason I chose to meet with you is because I know for certain that it has something to do with your company."

President Shinra didn't seem to like that at all and his glare deepened. "What kind of 'something?'"

Katarjena tilted her head to the side curiously. "I'm not entirely certain just yet, but I have an idea." Her eyes flickered to Sephiroth. Shinra caught it, but Sephiroth was glowering at the wall behind the president and failed to notice. "My kind," she continued, "Is usually involved in the keeping of balance between the dimensions. This time, it seems, I am to be keeping the balance within a dimension. It must be incredibly important, or your world would not have sucked me through a portal and spat me here."

Shinra sighed heavily. He took a moment to gather his thoughts before he looked to her again. "What do you suggest we do with you in the meantime?"

Katarjena smirked. "I was thinking of joining SOLDIER," she watched with interest as Sephiroth whirled to glare wrathfully at her, "You could use my skill."

"I must disagree," Sephiroth interjected before anything else could be said. "We do not need her. She would be an unnecessary burden."

Genesis scoffed. "On who?"

Sephiroth turned his glare to Genesis. "On Shinra," he bit. "Regardless of her skill she would be using Shinra resources."

Katarjena chuckled. "Oh come now, I won't be that big of a burden. I can supply a house and necessary goods for myself, and with the money I earn—"

"Enough." Shinra barked and the squabbling ceased. He turned to Katarjena. "We would be honored to have a queen be a guest in our company. But in order to be a part of SOLDIER, your skills must be assessed."

"Fair enough," she agreed. Sephiroth sat back and crossed his arms over his chest.

"How do our first class SOLDIERs suggest we test her?"

Genesis and Angeal exchanged glances, and then shrugged. "Actually," Angeal started, "I feel she is already qualified to be a first class SOLDIER."

Sephiroth rolled his eyes. Genesis was about to make a snide remark, but Katarjena interrupted.

"How about this: I fight all three first class SOLDIERs. If I beat one, I start in third class, if I beat two, second, and if I can beat all three, I join first class."

There was a heavy, incredulous silence. "Do you mean, at the same time, or individually?" Angeal asked, leaning forward to rest his arms on the table.

"At the same time of course. Otherwise it wouldn't really be a test."

Angeal nodded and sat back against the chair.

"Are you sure you can handle all three?" The president sounded doubtful.

"I most certainly can handle all three." Katarjena straightened her back and met Shinra's eyes intensely and solemnly. And for the first time, Shinra could see the queen within her spirit.

He nodded. "Very well. Lazard, lead them to the simulation room for testing. We will adjourn and will wait for the results."

Everyone nodded, save for Hojo who hadn't been paying attention. Members of Shinra filed out of the room, only Lazard and Rufus walked with the SOLDIERs and the queen to the simulation room. All stayed silent until they reached their destination.

Having gathered their weapons on the way, the 1st class prepared themselves for the battle, knowing just how strong the queen was. It would not be an easy battle, and they knew in their hearts that they would lose.

In the observation room, Rufus Shinra turned to Director Lazard. "Do you think she'll be able to do it?" he asked out of mere curiosity.

Lazard narrowed his eyes at the four in thought.

"You know, I think she will."

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**So, how was it? Please review and tell me what you think. **

**I know that Sephiroth seems a little OOC, as I portrayed him as being a little petulant. But I figured that because he is only 22, he won't have the same maturity that he will later on in the series. But I want him to not like Katarjena for the time being as it sets up their friendship.**

**Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**Till next time!**


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